Rufus Thomas Later career
Is he still putting out albums
Is Rufus Thomas still putting out albums
Thomas continued to record and toured internationally, billing himself as "The World's Oldest Teenager" and describing himself as "the funkiest man alive". He "drew upon his vaudeville background to put [his songs] over on stage with fancy footwork that displayed remarkable agility for a man well into his fifties", and usually performed "while clothed in a wardrobe of hot pants, boots and capes, all in wild colors."  He continued as a DJ at WDIA until 1974, and worked for a period at WLOK before returning to WDIA in the mid 1980s to co-host a blues show. He appeared regularly on television and recorded albums for various labels. Thomas performed regularly at the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy; the outdoor amphitheater in which he performed was later renamed Rufus Thomas Park.  He played an important part in the Stax reunion of 1988, and appeared in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train, Robert Altman's 1999 film Cookie's Fortune, and D. A. Pennebaker's documentary Only the Strong Survive. Thomas released an album of straight-ahead blues, That Woman is Poison!, with Alligator Records in 1990, featuring saxophonist Noble "Thin Man" Watts. In 1996, he and William Bell headlined at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997, he released an album, Rufus Live!, on Ecko Records. In 1998, he hosted two New Year's Eve shows on Beale Street.  In 1997, to commemorate his 80th birthday, the City of Memphis renamed a road off Beale Street, close to the old Palace Theater, as Rufus Thomas Boulevard. He received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1992, and a lifetime achievement award from ASCAP in 1997. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. CANNOTANSWER
Thomas released an album of straight-ahead blues,
Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Records and Sun Records in the 1950s, before becoming established in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records. He is best known for his novelty dance records, including "Walking the Dog" (1963), "Do the Funky Chicken" (1969) and "(Do the) Push and Pull" (1970). According to the Mississippi Blues Commission, "Rufus Thomas embodied the spirit of Memphis music perhaps more than any other artist, and from the early 1940s until his death . . . occupied many important roles in the local scene."

He began his career as a tap dancer, vaudeville performer, and master of ceremonies in the 1930s. He later worked as a disc jockey on radio station WDIA in Memphis, both before and after his recordings became successful. He remained active into the 1990s and as a performer and recording artist was often billed as "The World's Oldest Teenager". He was the father of the singers Carla Thomas (with whom he recorded duets) and Vaneese Thomas and the keyboard player Marvell Thomas.

Early life
Thomas was born in the rural community of Cayce, Mississippi, the son of a sharecropper. He moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee, around 1920. His mother was a "church woman". Thomas made his debut as a performer at the age of six, playing a frog in a school theatrical production. By the age of 10, he was a tap dancer, performing on the streets and in amateur productions at Booker T. Washington High School, in Memphis. From the age of 13, he worked with Nat D. Williams, his high-school history teacher, who was also a pioneer black DJ at radio station WDIA and columnist for black newspapers, as a master of ceremonies at talent shows in the Palace Theater on Beale Street. After graduating from high school, Thomas attended Tennessee A&I University for one semester, but economic constraints led him to leave to pursue a career as a full-time entertainer.

Early career
Thomas began performing in traveling tent shows. In 1936 he joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, an all-black revue that toured the South, as a tap dancer and comedian, sometimes part of a duo, Rufus and Johnny.  He married Cornelia Lorene Wilson in 1940, at a service officiated by Rev. C. L. Franklin, the father of Aretha Franklin, and the couple settled in Memphis. Thomas worked a day job in the American Finishing Company textile bleaching plant, which he continued to do for over 20 years. He also formed a comedy and dancing duo, Rufus and Bones, with Robert "Bones" Couch, and they took over as MCs at the Palace Theater, often presenting amateur hour shows. One early winner was B.B. King, and others discovered by Thomas later in the 1940s included Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace.

In the early 1940s, Thomas began writing and performing his own songs. He regarded Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Gatemouth Moore as musical influences. He made his professional singing debut at the Elks Club on Beale Street, filling in for another singer at the last minute, and during the 1940s became a regular performer in Memphis nightclubs, such as Currie's Club Tropicana. As an established performer in Memphis, aged 33 in 1950, Thomas recorded his first 78 rpm single, for Jesse Erickson's small Star Talent label in Dallas, Texas. Thomas said, "I just wanted to make a record. I never thought of getting rich. I just wanted to be known, be a recording artist. . . . [But] the record sold five copies and I bought four of them." The record, "I'll Be a Good Boy" backed with "I'm So Worried", gained a Billboard review, which stated that "Thomas shows first class style on a slow blues". He also recorded for the Bullet label in Nashville, Tennessee, when he recorded with Bobby Plater's Orchestra and was credited as "Mr. Swing"; the recordings were not recognised by researchers as being by Thomas until 1996. In 1951 he made his first recordings at Sam Phillips's Sun Studio, for the Chess label, but they were not commercially successful.

He began working as a DJ at radio station WDIA in 1951, and hosted an afternoon R&B show called Hoot and Holler. WDIA, featuring an African-American format, was known as "the mother station of the Negroes" and became an important source of blues and R&B music for a generation, its audience consisting of white as well as black listeners. Thomas used to introduce his shows saying, "I'm young, I'm loose, I'm full of juice, I got the goose so what's the use. We're feeling gay though we ain't got a dollar, Rufus is here, so hoot and holler." He also used to lead tours of white teenagers on "midnight rambles" around Beale Street. Thomas claimed to be the first black DJ to play Elvis Presley records, which he did until the police made him stop due to segregation. He performed on stage with Elvis to an all-black audience, and although the police tried to shut it down, the audience stormed through to get to him. After that, the police allowed Elvis songs on black radio stations

His celebrity in the South was such that in 1953, at Sam Phillips's suggestion, he recorded "Bear Cat" for Sun Records, an "answer record" to Big Mama Thornton's R&B hit "Hound Dog". The record became the label's first national chart hit, reaching number 3 on the Billboard R&B chart. However, a copyright-infringement suit brought by Don Robey, the original publisher of "Hound Dog", nearly bankrupted the record label. After only one recording there, Thomas was one of the African-American artists released by Phillips, as he oriented his label more toward white audiences and signed Elvis Presley, who later recorded Thomas's song "Tiger Man". Thomas did not record again until 1956, when he made a single, "I'm Steady Holdin' On", for the Bihari brothers' Meteor label; musicians on the record included Lewie Steinberg, later a founding member of Booker T and the MGs.

Stax Records
In 1960 he made his first recordings with his 17-year-old daughter Carla, for the Satellite label in Memphis, which changed its name to Stax the following year. The song, "Cause I Love You", featuring a rhythm borrowed from Jesse Hill's "Ooh Poo Pa Doo", was a regional hit; the musicians included Thomas' son Marvell on keyboards, Steinberg, and the 16-year-old Booker T. Jones. The record's success led to Stax gaining production and distribution deal with the much larger Atlantic Records.

Rufus Thomas continued to record for the label after Carla's record "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" reached the national R&B chart in 1961. He had his own hit with "The Dog", a song he had originally improvised in performance based on a Willie Mitchell bass line, complete with imitations of a barking dog. The 1963 follow-up, "Walking the Dog", engineered by Tom Dowd of Atlantic, became one of his most successful records, reaching #10 on the Billboard pop chart. He became the first, and still the only, father to debut in the Top 10 after his daughter had first appeared there. The song was recorded in early 1964 by the Rolling Stones on their debut album, and was a minor UK chart hit for Merseybeat group the Dennisons later that year.

As well as recording and appearing on radio and in clubs, Thomas continued to work as a boiler operator in the textile plant, where he claimed the noises sometimes suggested musical rhythms and lyrics to him, before he finally gave up the job in 1963, to focus on his role as a singer and entertainer. He recorded a series of novelty dance tracks, including "Can Your Monkey Do the Dog'" and '"Somebody Stole My Dog" for Stax, where he was often backed by Booker T. & the MGs or the Bar-Kays. He also became a mentor to younger Stax stars, giving advice on stage moves to performers like Otis Redding, who partnered daughter Carla on record.

After "Jump Back" in 1964, the hits dried up for several years, as Stax gave more attention to younger artists and musicians. However, in 1970 he had another big hit with "Do the Funky Chicken", which reached #5 on the R&B chart, #28 on the pop chart, and #18 in Britain where it was his only chart hit. Thomas improvised the song while performing with Willie Mitchell's band at a club in Covington, Tennessee, including a spoken word section that he regularly used as a shtick as a radio DJ: "Oh I feel so unnecessary - this is the kind of stuff that makes you feel like you wanna do something nasty, like waste some chicken gravy on your white shirt right down front." The recording was produced by Al Bell and Tom Nixon, and used the Bar-Kays, featuring guitarist Michael Toles. Thomas continued to work with Bell and Nixon as producers, and later in 1970 had his only number 1 R&B hit [and his second-highest pop charting record] with another dance song, "Do the Push and Pull". A further dance-oriented release in 1971, "The Breakdown", climbed to number 2 R&B and number 31 Pop. In 1972, he featured in the Wattstax concert, and he had several further, less successful, hits before Stax collapsed in 1976.

Later career

Thomas continued to record and toured internationally, billing himself as "The World's Oldest Teenager" and describing himself as "the funkiest man alive". He "drew upon his vaudeville background to put [his songs] over on stage with fancy footwork that displayed remarkable agility for a man well into his fifties", and usually performed "while clothed in a wardrobe of hot pants, boots and capes, all in wild colors."

He continued as a DJ at WDIA until 1974, and worked for a period at WLOK before returning to WDIA in the mid 1980s to co-host a blues show. He appeared regularly on television and recorded albums for various labels. Thomas performed regularly at the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy; the outdoor amphitheater in which he performed was later renamed Rufus Thomas Park.

He played an important part in the Stax reunion of 1988, and appeared in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train, Robert Altman's 1999 film Cookie's Fortune, and D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary Only the Strong Survive. Thomas released an album of straight-ahead blues, That Woman Is Poison!, with Alligator Records in 1988, featuring saxophonist Noble "Thin Man" Watts. In 1996, he and William Bell headlined at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997, he released an album, Rufus Live!, on Ecko Records. In 1998, he hosted two New Year's Eve shows on Beale Street.

In 1997, to commemorate his 80th birthday, the City of Memphis renamed a road off Beale Street, close to the old Palace Theater, as Rufus Thomas Boulevard. He received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1992, and a lifetime achievement award from ASCAP in 1997. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.

Death and legacy

He died of heart failure in 2001, at the age of 84, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis. He is buried next to his wife Lorene, who pre-deceased him in 2000, at the New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

Writer Peter Guralnick said of him:His music... brought a great deal of joy to the world, but his personality brought even more, conveying a message of grit, determination, indomitability, above all a bottomless appreciation for the human comedy that left little room for the drab or the dreary in his presence.

Thomas was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Byhalia.

In popular culture
Bobby Brown portrays Thomas in the BET television series American Soul.

A character named Rufus in “Kill Bill: Volume 2” played with Rufus Thomas.

Discography

Albums
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Title
! rowspan="2"| Catalogue ref
! colspan="3"| Peak chart positions
|-
! style="width:50px;"| US200
! style="width:50px;"| USR&B
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1963
| Walking the Dog
| Stax 704
| align=center| 138
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|1970
| Do the Funky Chicken
| Stax STS-2028
| align=center| —
| align=center| 32
|-
| Rufus Thomas Live: Doing the Push & Pull at P.J.'s
| Stax STS-2039
| align=center| 147
| align=center| 19
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1972
| Did You Heard Me?
| Stax STS-3004
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1973
| Crown Prince of Dance
| Stax STS-3008
| align=center| —
| align=center| 42
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1977
| If There Were No More Music
| AVI 6015
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1978
| I Ain't Gettin' Older, I'm Gettin' Better
| AVI 6046
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1988
| That Woman Is Poison!
| Alligator AL 4769
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|1996
| Blues Thang!
| Sequel/Castle SEQ 1054
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| The Best of Rufus Thomas: Do the Funky Somethin'  (compilation)
| Rhino R2 72410
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1997
| Rufus Live! [rec. 1996 at Southern Crossroads Festival in Atlanta, GA]
| Ecko ECD 1013
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|2000
| Swing Out with Rufus Thomas
| High Stacks HS 9982
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|2005
| Just Because I'm Leavin''' (posthumous)
| Segue Records SRRT05
| align=center| —
| align=center| —
|-
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center; font-size:8pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
|}
Source:

Singles

Source:

References

Further reading
Greenberg, Steve. Do the Funky Somethin': The Best of Rufus Thomas'' (liner notes), Rhino Records, 1996.

External links

 Rufus Thomas Biography at Alligator Records
 Soulwalking.co.uk

1917 births
2001 deaths
20th-century American singers
20th-century African-American male singers
American blues singers
American funk singers
American soul singers
Blues musicians from Mississippi
Chess Records artists
People from Marshall County, Mississippi
Stax Records artists
Sun Records artists
Meteor Records artists
Tennessee State University alumni
20th-century American male singers
Mississippi Blues Trail
Alligator Records artists
Beyond Measure is the second studio album from Dynasty. Facedown Records released the album on January 22, 2013. Dynasty worked with Andrew P. Glover in the production of this album.

Critical reception

Awarding the album three and a half stars, Tony D. Bryant from HM Magazine stated, "Beyond Measure is full of adrenaline-pumping lyrics and circle pits... with guitars, drums and vocals all blending to a hard, fast and full-of-emotion album. There is no sitting still while listening to this album." Mark Sherwood, rating the album a seven out of ten for Cross Rhythms, wrote, "A tad repetitive and unadventurous but Beyond Measure definitely has its moments." Giving the album three and a half stars at Jesus Freak Hideout, Scott Fryberger wrote, "it's an enjoyable album." Lee Brown, awarding the album three stars by Indie Vision Music, said, "the album is filled with brutality that is skillfully executed and bleeds deeply... Putting its brevity aside, Beyond Measure has some solid musicianship and some fantastic guest appearances."

Track listing

References

2013 albums
Dynasty (hardcore band) albums
Facedown Records albums St Andrews Ladies’ Putting Club, originally known as the St Andrews Ladies Golf Club when it was first established in 1867 for female golf players to use, now the club is also known as the Ladies’ Putting Club of St Andrews, or simply the Putting Club. The club is still a ladies only golf club based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It is generally known to visitors as The Himalayas putting course, which is where the club's members and visitors play, and is thought to be the first minigolf course ever made. The Himalayas name comes about from the peaks and troughs on the course. It has both 9 and 18-hole courses, and is open to men, women and children (6 years of age and above) visitors alike for a nominal fee. The club is the world’s oldest ladies’ golf club.

History

Before 1860, there were few recreational activities that young women could participate in, apart from croquet, battledore and shuttlecock, and archery. 
At that time, the caddies of St Andrews laid out a small putting area on the Links behind Gibson Place, which is close to the present-day Rusacks Hotel. The club originated as a group of local St Andrews ladies that included Miss Ellen Boothby, her sister-in-law Mrs Robert Todd Boothby, Mrs Skipworth, Miss Deane and Miss Chambers, who met regularly on the putting green. Many of the ladies’ fathers or brothers were members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, and the ladies would play on the Old Course when it was quiet. There had been growing friction between the ladies and the caddies, who believed that the ladies were taking over their space on the links. Consequently, by 1866 the ladies felt that they should have their own links and club, and so in 1867 the St Andrews Ladies Golf Club was established with Mrs Robert Todd Boothby as President and Miss Ellen Boothby as Vice President.  

Old Tom Morris laid out a nine-hole “miniature links” golf course, called the Ladies’ Putting Green also commonly known as The Himalayas. The course is now known as Ladies’ Putting Green (The Himalayas). He was a supporter of the club and the green-keeper for the club until he retired in 1895. He was then made an honorary member of the club. At some point in time, more ground was acquired to the north for the 18-hole putting course. One of the main obstacles on the course is the old fishermen’s path which had been frequently flooded. This path still runs through the putting course but it now has a hard surface and is still referred to as “Jordan”. In 1898 a very basic corrugated iron Clubhouse was erected and by 1999, this was replaced by the current structure.

The Himalayas putting course is run by the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club, unlike the other seven golf courses on the St Andrews Links, which are run by St Andrews Links Trust. The course was originally laid out by Old Tom Morris as a 9-hole course. Later more land was acquire and an 18-hole course was established.

See also
List of golf courses designed by Old Tom Morris

References

Further reading

External links
 
 
 

Miniature golf
1867 establishments in Scotland
Golf clubs and courses in Fife
St Andrews
Women's organisations based in Scotland